1. Their story
By Stuart dybek

2. Biographical information
Dybek is a popular short story writer and poet who combines realism and the mysteries of memory emotions and imaginations in his works.
He has written several books, many of which were a collection of short stories and poems. His works include Brass knuckles, Childhood and Other Neighborhoods, I Sailed with Magellan and Streets in Their Own Ink.
He has also received many rewards such as 1995 PEN/Bernard Malamud Prize, Academy Institute Award in Fiction, and Chicago Tribune’s Nelson Algren Award

3. organization Dybek uses a single stanza and 14 lines for his poem.
He was using a metaphor by comparing their lives to the fire that was about to die, the fire than what eating the pages in the book that is their lives.
He uses this sense of figurative language to help the reader understand the theme of his poem.

4. Speaker
The speaker of the poem is Stuart Dybek, who is narrating the last moments of multiple people.
He uses the role as narrator to show describe and go into detail of how their deaths are unfolding.
The speaker is comparing the lives of the dying people to a fire that is going out.

5. Imagery “The fire was dying, like the fire in the story.”
May be a comparison to the lives of the people dying
“Wet kindling from an orchard of wooden spoons”
Might mean how they hold on to their last moments.

6. imagery
“A jacket hangs from a question mark.” The mystery that we don’t know anything about them. “dreams rattle their armor of stovepipes and ladles. Boots in the corner” kick in their sleep. Means the dreams that they had in life and failed to accomplish well haunt them in death.

7. Literary elements They were nearing the end of their story.
The fire was dying, like the fire in the story.
“Turn up the blue dial
under the kettle until darkness boils.”
Repetition- he is using this element to show the emphasize on their stories via repeating.
Imagery- Dybek is using imagery to show us the end which is the darkness.

8. Literary elements “Each page turned was torn and fed to flames”
“They were nearing the end of their story. The fire was dying, like the fire in the story.”
“mirrors defrost to the quick
before fogging with steam”
Personification- Dybek is making the fire into something hungry like to represent it eating the pages of their story.
Metaphor- The poet is comparing their lives to a dying fire to represent their near end.
Imagery- He is using imagery to of the mirrors to represent the transition from life to death.

9. Literal meaning
People are dying and a fire is going out while they near the end of their life.

10. Figurative meaning
The stories of the people are on their last chapter as their pages are burned in a dying fire until the very last one which would mark the end of their stories.

11. Author’s purpose
The author is trying to show us that these people lived a long life and have a story to tell despite it being near the end.

12. theme
We all live a life and so have a story to tell, while we may hear about and see death everyday we tend to overlook their backgrounds or stories.

13. Websites used http://www.poetryfoundation.org